The origins of the firm lie in a yarn and twine factory organised by Friedrich Ackermann in the town of Sontheim. In 1842 he had opened a yarn, fabric, and haberdashery shop in Heilbronn, in 1868 he expanded his business to include the production to yarn and twine, acquiring factory facilities in Sontheim. At the outset the firm operated as Ackermann & Compagnie, utilising machinery imported from England. In 1878, due to financial difficulties, the firm was reorganised as a joint stock company; the first chairman of the supervisory board was Gustav Hauck. Production facilities were increased by seventy percent, and new products were introduced, including sewing threads, crochet yarns, and stuffing yarns were produced. Within a few years, the company grew to become one of the most important yarn producers in Germany. In 1897 the firm had 650 employees, and by 1907 this had grown to 760. Output exceeded one million kilograms of yarn.
In the wake of the Great War the firm underwent further reorganisation and founded a subsidiary, Holzwarenfabrik Königsberg GmbH to undertake the manufacture of the wooded spools required for yarn production. These had previously been imported from Nordmark. This subsidiary firm supplied more than eighty-five million thread bobbins a year to the parent firm and the German textile industry generally.
In response to the appearance of artificial fibres the firm diversified in their manufacture under the brand names Syncord, Synton and Rasant. The sale and distribution of these items are handled by another specialised subsidiary, Garnindustrie GmbH, based in München. In 1948 the firm merged with Nähfadenfabrik Göggingen, vastly increasing its production base.